The evening world., 1887-12-24

lN A~D- ~- do not take time to in
WASZ=@Au quire into the reason
why this great New England system, with its
thousands of miles of track spread like a net
work of steel over the great wheat fields Of
the Southwest, manages to command such
LOYAL and devoted service from that magnifi-
cent body of men who compose its army of
servitors. The secret is not hard to find to
one who will mingle with its employees.
He soon learns that these, from brake
man up to the SUPERINTENDENT
including the clerks of the chief off,
cials-are treated like men and re-
quired to show themselves worthy of
such treatment by displaying the same
spirit towards the patrons of the road. Well
paid, we'll provided, treated with gentle
manly consideration, they have developed
an esprit de corps which of itself tends to
eliminate unworthy elements and has pro.
duced a body of subordinate officials une-
qualled by any which has CHANGED to fall
under my observation. l have made such
things a study, and there is hardly a road in
the United States upon which l have not had
abundant opportunity for pursuing such in
vestigation. Good wages, convenient runs,
neat lodging-houses, hospitals for the sick
and consideration for the disabled, with
rigid discipline and courteous example are at
the bottom of this notable result. Courtesy
and faithfulness is the rule of the road, and
should be engraved on its corporate seal. A
bulldoZing conductor, an insolent brakeman
or a sullen engineer | never yet saw upon the
track. 1t is characterized by the anxious
carefulness of the Boston business man, who
will stop in the busiest hour of the day to
mark out the strange wayfarer's course along
her crooked streets, modified and broadened
by the heartiness and insouclance of the great
West. 1t is said to be grasping and relentless
in the assertion of power. keen to take advan-
tage of opportunity and a firm believer in the
underlying dogma of the railway monopolist,
that the tariff rates should be governed by
consideration of how much the shippers bust
ness will stand but these are common in
tirmities, while its virtues are rare enough to
deserve grateful remembrance from those
whose comfort they have enhanced. l did
not mean to write this, but somehow the time
and place where 1 heard it have become an
essential part of the curious tale 1 set out to
relate.
We were, speeding eastward, as I said,
across the plains. We had watched the sun
with his farewell glow the snowy crests long
after the plains were covered with gray
shadows. Then the stars came out, md the
feeling of isolation which the dull, unbroken
distance and the great unclouded vault
closing evenly down on every side pro-
duces crept over us and We drew way
from the windows to escape its curious irk-
1t was Christmas Eve, and a little
SoliDuhy liz W CuCl tht u lcW
hours before, but drawn together by that
very sense of isolation which the desert
brings, gathered in the smoking saloon.
With the freedom which characteriZes the
great West.we were soon acquainted, and
the conversation naturally turned upon the
season and the personal experience of the va
rious individuals connected with the Christ
mas m There were representatives of al
most every part of the country, together with
some whose memories held quaint pictures of
the season of good will in other lands. They
were tales of homes and friends and quaint
adventure. There we're few ~silences, for each
ones story seemed to awaken an echo in
every other mind, and that one who CHANGED
first to begin went on with q new episode of
the universal epic.
l must confess that the stories were not
many of them of the character of those which
have become known in our literature. as
i" Christmas Stories" / do not remember
now that there were any acts of. notable be-
nevolence recounted. but there were many
quaint incidents and some serious adven-
lures. Curiously enough there was no boast
ing. One told how he had gone a long way,
when an awkward lad. to carry a Christmas
present to his boy love. She was the daugh-
ter of rich parents. and his heart beat furi-
ously at the thought of his presumption. but
he trudged on only to find the windows of her
fathers house. all aglow and a gay company
gathered within. When he mustered courage
TO ring the bell and ask for her he was bid
den to wait in the hall. where she came to
lin in the dazzling radiance of her party
attire, and, when he stated his errand, stood
smiling upon him, q very angel as he thought,
while he sought in every pocket for the gift
which was the result of months of self-denial.
1t was gone. He had lost it on the way, but
dare not confess the fact. After vain search
see that she OWNED his misfortune and pitied
his distress.
Never mind, {" she said, putting her little
gloved hand on his rough sleeve and glanc-
ing quickly towards the closed door, never
mind, some other time will do"
She was leaning towards him; her rosy
lips were in easy reach: he thought there
was no time like the present, and kissed
them twice before they could be withdrawn.
His audacity had its reward, and when he
drew from his pocket the Likeness OF a beau
tiful woman and passed it around with the
simple words, " My, wife, gentlemen" none
of us wondered that Christmas Eve brought
and the treasure he found that night.
Ont of the party had been lost in a storm
an Australian bliZzard-on q Christmas
Eve, and blinded with the wine and numb
with cold had staggered on, thinking he
heard the bells of his English home pealing
the Christmas chimes, to find himself when
the morning came in a sheepfold, saved by
the warmth of the innocent creatures who had
crowded about him to shelter themselves.
There were some curious stories of the
supernatural, but the one that impressed me
most was told by a quiet, commonplace
looking man who had been up to that time
a 81 lent listener. 1t was getting late, and the
porter had more than once intimated that the
rules of the Pullman Car Company required
him to put out the light in the saloon. and
finding it impossible to effect our dislodg-
ment, had relapsed into a contented auditor.
his eyes were still distended at the ghostly
narrative we had just heard, when the gentle
man have alluded to said in a tone of pos
tive conviction;
Well gentlemen, you may say what you
IKE, put l, for one, firmly believe that on
CHRISTMAS Eve We poor mortals are allowed to
come nearer to the Infinite than on any other
bless God!" said the porter, ~ don't
Wans 10 come no nearer. Use nigh enuff
"WSn,n said the gentleman WHOSE romnrk